I am Just an Average Tamer

"This is the third one this week," said a figure, clad in the imposing armor—black steel polished, engraved with silver patterns.

A green cape fluttered behind him, and a lion-shaped crest gleamed proudly on his chest plate.

Yes, they were none other than the Elite Knights of the capital.

"Whatever is corrupting them, it's spreading quickly," he added, unsheathing his sword.

"Hn," the other knight nodded, younger than the first one.

"And judging from the footsteps, only a single person fought it—and managed to injure it to that degree. Impressive," he added, scanning his surroundings.

"Must be a high-ranking hunter," the first knight said, crouching beside the dead beast, slashing his dagger into its chest with practiced ease, letting dark, viscous blood ooze from the wound as he searched for something.

Soon, he pulled out a dark crystalline core, oozing with miasma and pulsing heavily.

"Captain, look," he said, turning toward the imposing figure—wearing the same armor, but with a deep blue cloak that marked his higher rank.

"...This looks a bit different."

With just a glance, the Knight Captain's eyes widened behind his helmet.

"Get rid of it. Quickly."

"Huh?"

"Hurry!" he shouted.

But just before the knight could react, the core shone brightly and—

BOOM!

****

"Ughr," Kai winced, groggily opening his eyes.

Instinctively, his hand reached for his shoulder—the one that had been heavily injured.

His fingers slipped through loose bandages soaked faintly with dried blood, brushing against his bare skin.

His torso, chest, and legs were bandaged too.

...Sigh!

He exhaled deeply and let his head fall back against the cool, stone wall of the dimly lit room.

Creak!

"Oh, woke up already?" an amused voice called from a figure that entered through the door.

"I guess so," Kai replied.

"Hahaha! Well, you didn't die, though." Dante let out a soft chuckle and took a seat beside the bed.

"Still, good job." He handed Kai a red-colored pouch and added, "You should rest for a few days."

Kai nodded briefly.

Dante stayed a little longer, chatting casually about other matters.

Then, with a slight wave, he stood up and left the room, letting the door close softly behind him.

He sighed and slowly stood up from the bed, wincing slightly.

His eyes landed on the clothes neatly folded on the wooden table beside him.

'What a mess. My favourite Armor got damaged. That fucker, I'll make sure to pay him some day.'

He thought internally.

Sigh!

'Whatever, now not the time to whine.'

Reaching over, he slid them into his storage bracelet before changing into his usual attire—a red tunic and brown trousers.

He rolled his shoulders and—

"Argh!"

—immediately regretted it.

Without wasting another second, he opened the door and stepped out of the place where Dante had nursed him back to health.

Slowly walking along the cobblestone streets, illuminated by hanging chandeliers and the soft glow of moonlight,

Kai made his way to the inn—where he had booked his room, tucked Elina in to sleep, and left Vex to watch over her.

Slipping quietly into his room, Kai sighed in relief at the sight of Elina still sound asleep.

Thud!

"Meow!"

Vex lunged at him, hitting his chest with surprising force.

"Let's rest for today…" he murmured, gently stroking her head before placing her beside Elina.

He gave the girl a quick glance, then sat down on the chair beside the bed. Resting his head on the wooden table, he closed his eyes.

As he drifted into deep sleep, a familiar blue panel flickered silently before him.

Displaying familiar texts.

But Kai was already too far gone in slumber to notice.

{Daily Task}

Push-ups: 100

Pull-ups: 100

Running: 10 km

Crunches: 100

Plank: 10 min

Rewards for completion: 3 Gacha Points

[< Time remaining: 30 sec... >]

...

[< 10 sec... >]

...

[< 3 sec... 2 sec... 1 sec... >]

[< 0 sec >]

[< Time Over! >]

[< Ding! >]

[< Daily Task: ...Uncompleted! >]

[< Warning! >]

[< Failure will result in penalty. >]

[< Penalty initiating... >]

...

...

[< Hehehe! >]

****

"Hurry!" he shouted.

But just before the knight could react, the core shone brightly and—

BOOM!

The shockwaves rippled through the impact.

The trees uprooted, twisted.

The ground shook once.

Then again.

And then it was over.

The light vanished in a blink—leaving only the ringing silence of smoke and ash.

For a long breath, no one moved.

Charred leaves rained from the trees like dead snow, and the clearing where the 'shadestalker scorpion' had fallen was no longer a clearing.

It became a wide, blackened crater with smoldering roots and the faint crackle of burning moss.

Knight Captain, Sir Lennard coughed, waving away the smoke with a gauntleted hand.

His visor had been dented, and one side of his blue-plated armor was scorched.

Though he has coated himself with mana at the last second before the explosion.

It still wasn't enough.

But some wasn't lucky enough.

Some got minor injuries, some got their skin burned...

But, luckily, no was in life threatening situation or seriously injured.

Since they were Elite Knights, their vitality was quite high, helping them to survive the impact.

All around the Knight Captain, the knights moved slowly, carefully, recalibrating their perimeter, dragging out the wounded.

Sir Lennard crouched near the epicenter, one gauntlet pressing into the blackened soil.

The ground felt wrong.

Not hot. Not radiating any sort of energy. Just... empty.

A few meters to his left, his squadmate Eris was on one knee, clutching her side.

She grimaced and said through gritted teeth, "The core. We tried to extract it too soon."

"Too soon?" Lennard barked. "We waited two full minutes. It should've cooled!"

Lennard gave a short nod, but didn't stand.

Few seconds later, he muttered himself, "This was no ordinary surge."

Eris knelt beside him. "You mean the core resisting?"

"No." He turned his head slightly. "It wasn't resisting. It was reacting."

"Reacting to what?"

He paused. Then stood slowly, brushing ash from his gloves. "The mana."

Eris frowned. "What?"

He gestured upward to the drifting particles of faint bluish light that always clung to this part of the forest. "Ambient. Free-floating essence. The beast's corruption flared only when we tried to extract its core—here, where mana is dense."

"You think the corruption ignites in mana-rich zones?"

"I think someone designed it to."

Meanwhile, somewhere else in the forest.

Knight Krell jogged beside his partner, their visors lifted for visibility. The trees were dense here, and the fog hadn't lifted since morning.

"Something's off," Krell murmured. "No birds. No breeze. Even the bugs are gone."

His partner, a younger recruit named Jaren, gave a nervous chuckle. "Maybe they're smarter than us."

They moved cautiously through a thin ravine.

That's when they heard it—a low, wet growl.

Both froze.

From the underbrush, a beast emerged.

Malformed. Patchy fur. Its eyes glowed an unnatural violet, and dark veins pulsed beneath its skin. Blackened mist coiled around its paws.

Another corrupted beast.

"Shit," Krell hissed. "Back! Don't engage until—!"

But the beast charged, and they had no time to run.

Meanwhile.

Back at the perimeter, Captain heard the alarm whistles. He grabbed his blade and sprinted toward the source.

He arrived just in time to see a shockwave burst from the ravine—not an explosion like before, but a compression of air and energy.

They'd managed to bring the beast down—barely.

It didn't explode, but as Lennard examined the corpse, something else chilled him.

Burned into its side was a glyph.

And then—

A whistling call. High-pitched. Repeating.

He looked up.

Across the ridge, barely visible in the fog, were three hooded figures in black and silver cloaks. Masks covered their faces. One raised a hand in mock salute... then turned and vanished into the woods.

"After them!" Lennard snapped.

But by the time scouts reached the ridge, the figures were gone—like shadows swallowed by fog.

Lennard composed himself and gestured to retreat.

After arriving at the camp, they slipped into one of the tents, made for meetings.

The knights gathered around Lennard as he laid a map flat across the table, placing markers across key locations.

"Listen up," he said, voice steady. "This is no longer just a clean-up operation. We're facing something orchestrated."

He pointed at the map. "First beast, near the river. Core detonates. Second beast, glyph-marked, in a mana-rich zone. Reacts violently, just short of explosion."

Eris leaned forward. "They're being planted."

"Worse," Lennard said. "They're being engineered."

A heavy silence fell.

Lennard continued, "The glyph wasn't tribal. That was alchemical-runic—a fusion design. We'll report this to the Guild. But until reinforcements arrive, we stay sharp. No one travels alone. No core is to be extracted unless it's verified dormant. Got it?"

The squad nodded.

"And if you see anyone wearing a silver-and-black cloak..."

He let the sentence hang.

Eris finished it for him.

"...we don't wait for questions."

(A/N: Yo guys, what's up. And sorry I couldn't upload any chapter yesterday.

I wasn't feeling well so I wasn't able to write. Today is kinda same though, my mind is in a mess, so there might be some mistakes, and I'll check it later, though I'll appreciate if you guys can provide me some pointers.

Thank you.

Enjoy~)